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Abra Kadabra
Abra Kadabra is a stage magician and supervillain from the 64th century. He has often clashed with his 20th century foe Flash in Central City. __TOC__ Background Information In the parallel universe of Earth-One, Citizen Abra was born in the 64th century, an era in which science is so advanced it is indistinguishable from magic (some claim it is a mix between science and real magic). Being an individualist in a collectivist society, and bored with his lifestyle, Citizen Abra steals a time-machine and traves back in time from 6363 A.D. to Central City of the mid-20th century. Upon his arrival he calls himself ‘Abra Kadabra.’ He immediately began impressing people with his tricks, all performed by using 64th Century technology. He eventually decided that the best way to get publicity in Central City was by stealing things. This drew the attention of the Flash. As a grand finale, he announced that he would perform the greatest magic trick ever seen, which granted him the opportunity to fill an entire hall full of people. It was however, a trap for the Flash. When the speedster arrived to bring him to justice, Kadabra sent him flying into space, leaving his costume behind. However, the Flash was able to use his speed to return to Earth. After tracking Kadabra to his hidden location, he easily defeated him by putting him in the path of his own paralyzing Hypno-Beam, rendering him immobile. The Flash takes Abra Kadabra to jail and is asked to be notified immediately when he recovers.As revealed in The Flash, #128 (May 1962). The Flash still is unaware that Kadabra is from the future. While in the state penitentiary, Kadabra worked in the kitchen. Using advanced knowledge of future technology, he is able to cobble together a make-shift ‘mesmerizing device’ (Hypno-Ray) out of pots and pans; which he uses to send a beam of light to the governor’s mansion across town that hypnotizes the governor compelling him to pardon Abra from prison. When news of Kadabra's release reaches Barry Allen, he decides to investigate the matter, as the Flash. The Flash learns that the pardon was official and there is nothing that can be done to reverse it, unless the next governor chooses to do so. The Flash suspects that Abra used his pseudo-magic to accomplish this feat. The Flash's deduction is right on the money as at that moment, staring out over Central City's skyline, from his luxurious penthouse apartment, Kadabra finds inspiration for a new performance. A performance guaranteed to bestow upon him the fame and fortune he covets. Allen attends a performance with his (then) girlfriend and reporter Iris West. The performance turns out to be a puppet show, where a puppet of the Flash is humiliated by a puppet villain, called "Captain Creampuff". The show turns out to be an enormous hit, playing to sold-out crowds. Undeterred, Barry as the Flash decides to offset the negativity generated by the stage theatrics and step-up his heroic activity. This resulted in drastically reduced ticket sales for Kadabra. In retaliation, the magician papers Central City with posters advertising his show and sets a trap for the Flash. When the Flash happens by one of Kadabra's posters, he is suddenly bathed in a strange radiation that transforms him into a marionette (aka puppet). Kadabra collects the Flash, and brings him back to the theater and puts him into next show as a way to humiliate the Flash before a live audience. During the show, the speedster was able to regain control over his molecules and knock out Kadabra with a knock-out punch. The Flash then retrieves the evil faux-magicians magic wand and uses it to restore himself back to normal. With Kadabra defeated, the Flash turns him over to the police.As revealed in The Flash, #133 (December 1962). A couple years later, unbeknownst to the Flash, Kadabra escapes from prison and places a hex on the Flash. While the speedster spies on a gang of criminals, he feels a strange sensation wave over him. He has no time to focus on the strange sensation though. As he races after the crooks' getaway car, the Flash suddenly slips on a pool of oil. Resuming the chase, the Flash then runs headlong into a wall of dirt that seemingly came out of nowhere. By the time he recovers, the criminals have made good their escape. The Flash makes his way to police headquarters. When he arrives, he is given a note. The note is from Kadabra who explains that he is behind the previous four robberies in Central City and that there will be a fifth robbery. He continues by telling Flash where and when the next crime will take place. Meanwhile, In his secret lair, Abra Kadabra instructs his criminal gang to leave another note for the Flash, at the scene of their next crime. Once more the Flash engages the band of crooks. Every tactic he uses to catch them, though, completely backfires on him, but fails at every turn. Finding the note Kadabra left for him, the Flash learns where he can find his foe. En route to Kadabra's hideout, the Flash soon finds himself beset by all manner of ills. As the Flash crashes uncontrollably into the room, he launches himself against Kadabra. Every attack he makes fails. After noticing that his punches were not hitting their intended targets, but rather seemingly random nearby locations, the Flash frantically began making myriads of punching motions. His plan worked, and he eventually happened to hit Kadabra, knocking the villain out. Kadabra was again sent back to prison.As revealed in The Flash, #149/2 (December 1964) Flash is summoned to the Central City prison where he learns that Kadabra has escaped by switching bodies with a police officer (who is actually a 64th century time-cop). Flash tracks down his foe at a magician's convention. Abra Kadabra plans to expose Flash's secret identity by removing his costume and speed. Flash manages to disguise his face before anyone sees him. Then Flash defeats Kadabra an manages to aid in the transference of Kadabra back to the time-cop. The villain is then turned over to the 64th century officer for incarceration in his own time period.As revealed in The Flash, #163/2 (Aug. 1966). As fate would have it, Kadabra escapes jail and returns to the 20th Century with a gimmick that makes Flash deaf, dumb, and blind to evil. But the Flash of Earth-Two, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Doctor Fate come to Earth-One to lend him a hand. They were able to render Kadabra unconscious and take him back to the 64th century.As revealed in The Flash, #170 (May 1967). After a few failed attempts to cause mischief for the Flash in the 20th century,As revealed in The Flash #175 (Dec. 1967); #182 (Sept. 1968) and #212 (Feb. 1972). Kadabra eventually was sent back to the 64th century. Here, the authorities made it so that anyone in Kadabra's vicinity was compelled to applaud and cheer for him, thus canceling his urges to commit crimes in the Flash's era. This worked for more than a decade, until Kadabra became bored and complacent once again. So he sent a small pyramid-shaped object to Barry Allen's lab in the past, which transported the speedster to Kadabra's era – to the year 6376. Here, the Fastest Man Alive was hypnotized and made to appear like he was murdering Kadabra. The authorities arrested the Flash.As revealed in The Flash, #246 (January 1977). However, Kadabra was not dead. Instead, he had been transported back to the Flash's home century, where he planned to commit crimes without interference from his rival. However, he found himself in Keystone City, home of the original Flash, Jay Garrick. He had somehow transported himself not to earth’s past, but to Earth-Two of the same time era. Jay, together with Barry, who eventually freed himself from prison in the future and returned to his home era, defeated Kadabra, sending him back to the 64th Century.As revealed in The Flash, #247 (March 1977). Not content with 64th century earth, Kadabra heads to the 20th century again. This time he remains in the shadows and brings together the former members of the Injustice Gang (Poison Ivy, Mirror Master, Chronos, Tattooed Man, and the Scarecrow). Not even this wretched crew aware of the mysterious stranger’s identity. All they know is that he plans to use alien artifacts to gain control of Earth's energy resources. With the combined efforts of the JLA and Ultraa, a fellow hero from an alternate earth, they defeat the villains, and their leader is unmasked as Flash's future-dwelling foe, Abra Kadabra.As revealed in Justice League of America, #158 (September 1978). A few years later, on a subsequent visit to the 20th century, Kadabra managed to trap the Flash in an illusion where he was bedridden in a clinic. This illusion showed Flash a world where he had been paralyzed (not granted him superspeed) by the lab explosion. In this illusion, he believed that the adventures as the Scarlet Speedster were not real, but fantasies brought on by reading comic books starring Jay Garrick. Kadabra created illusions of his friends and family corroborating this story and himself posed as a psychiatrist, Dr. Petrou. However, when the magician conjured up an image of Professor Zoom, the speedster realized the trick, as no Reverse-Flash could exist without a Flash to inspire him. Breaking free from the illusion, the Flash easily defeated Kadabra.As revealed in The Flash, #300 (August 1981). Powers and Abilities Super powers *'Magic': At first his magic-like powers were purely the result of futurist technology, but after a deal with a demon, he became a true sorcerer, able to cast spells and fire energy bolts. *'Illusion Casting' *'Magic Energy Bolts' Abilities *'Gadgetry' *'Prestidigitation' Paraphernalia Equipment * Hypno-Ray: The Hypno-ray was hidden in the gem-flower on Kadabra's lapel, it was capable of paralyzing Kadabra's targets or compelling them to perform an action, such as applauding.As revealed in The Flash, #128 (May 1962). Appearances Abra Kadabra did not appear in any episode of the Superfriends TV Show. Earth-One Appearances: * Justice League of America, #158 (September 1978) -- Injustice Gang Appearance Earth-1A Appearances: * ''Super Friends, #8'' (November 1, 1977) -- indirectly referenced ** In this SuperFriends issue, we are told that the Red Tornado's appearance follows the events in [[Justice League of America, 146| Justice League of America, Vol. 18 #146]] (September, 1977). In the JLA #146 we are introduced to the 'Injustice Gang.' Notes *''Abra Kadabra'' first appeared in The Flash, #128 (May 1962).For more information about that DC comic book, click here. * He was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino. External Links *Abra Kadabra at the DC Database *Abra Kadabra at Wikipedia References Category:Characters Category:DC characters Category:Villains Category:Flash enemies Category:SuperFriends Comic book Category:Super Friends comic book characters